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December 02, 2014

I love making tea towels to fit the seasons and holidays. They wash easy and really do their job in drying dishes or cleaning up spills. And with a house full of boys there are A LOT of spills that need cleaning up. Last night I made several new designs from digital transfers that I purchased from Etsy. These are some of my favorite Christmas tea towels to date that I have made and also my first venture with making them with color.

July 30, 2014

A couple of weeks ago I went to the Thrift Store and found a beautiful buffet for a song. It had some problems so I knew if I bought it, it would have to be painted. I brought it home and it sat in my garage for a couple of weeks until this weekend when I finally got the courage to paint it.

I had received a free can of Amy Howard's Brahaus White while I am not really good with photos as far as a step by step, but here was my process. Amy Howard's paint is not a chalk paint, but it also doesn't need any prep, so I started with my first coat using a 2 inch Purdy paint brush purchased at Ace Hardware. This paint dries pretty quick, but I also used a hair dryer to speed along the paint process so I wouldn't be waiting too long in between coats. In between coats I lightly sanded and then removed the dust with a tack cloth. In all it took 4 light coats of paint in all to get the coverage I wanted. After that I hit it with my palm sander to distress it a bit and then used some Feed and Wax to add a light layer of wax and shine. Easy peasey!

In all, I think it took me about 5 hours to complete, with some downtime in between coats, and a couple of phone calls and lunch.

I like Amy Howard's paint because of the ability to use without a bunch of prep. The Brahaus White did take 4 coats to get full coverage, but I know other paints I have used in white have also taken just as much, so I wasn't surprised about that. It is also really durable and doesn't scratch off like some chalk based paints do. I will definitely use this paint again!